Mpule Kwelagobe is an entrepreneur, economist, activist, model, mother, philanthropist — and a true inspiration.

Mpule Kwelagobe (second from right) with Akilah students and staff.

Botswana-born Mpule Kwelagobe took home the Miss Universe crown in 1999, went on to pursue a degree in economics, and has devoted her life and career to fighting for women’s empowerment across Africa.

Today, Mpule is about to start an innovation hub for women in Kigali — the IncludeHER Innovation Center based in the new Kigali Innovation City. Last month, we were delighted to host Mpule Kwelago at the Akilah Institute for a talk on the importance of investing in women’s empowerment, education, and economic independence across Africa.

Editor’s Note: Akilah’s “Women We Admire” series highlights women leaders across East Africa, including innovators, entrepreneurs, activists, policymakers, and businesswomen.

Global changemaker

At the age of 19, Mpule Kwelagove took home the title of Miss Universe as the first African-born contestant to ever win the crown. At her young age, Mpule was determined to use her newly acquired fame to create sustainable change for girls and women globally, especially across Africa.

Mpule won the Miss Universe title in 1999 and has since then dedicated her career to creating positive social change. (Source: Miss Universe Organization)

Mpule started traveling the world to raise awareness about HIV/AIDs, and soon after, she was appointed as the United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for Youth and HIV/AIDS. With support from world leaders, including Nelson Mandela and his wife, Graca Machel, Mpule launched her own organization, the MPULE Foundation, and raised $100 million for the fight against HIV/Aids in sub-Saharan Africa. She also founded the MPULE Institute for Endogenous Development, a New York-based advocacy and public policy think tank that champions green initiatives, sustainable development in agriculture, gender equity, and women’s and youth empowerment.

Her upbringing fueled her passion to fight for equal access and opportunities for women across Africa.

“I grew up in Botswana with a single mother looking out for me and my siblings. I saw my mother working four to five different jobs at the same time just to sustain us. To do that, and at the same time to be a mother to your children, making good decisions for them, supporting them through school, that takes so much strength,” Mpule explains.

“You can’t get around the fact that poverty is gendered. Women are the faces of poverty, especially in Africa. And I’m not just talking about poverty in money, but poverty in time. In the poor rural areas, women spend hours collecting firewood and water. If they are to choose between sending their boys or girls to school, they will choose the boys because they need girls to help out at home. This is the main obstacle we need to tackle. We need to give girls equal access to education. That is the very first step that will lead to empowerment in so many other ways. They need to go to school.”

Mpule Kwelagobe with this year’s winner of Miss Geek Africa during Transform Africa, where Mpule was on the judging panel (Source: @Mpule, Mpule Kwelagobe Twitter)

Mpule herself earned a degree in political science and economics from Columbia University and has since combined her experience as an economist with her passion for social impact and women’s empowerment. Today, she and her husband run QuesS Capital, a private global investment firm focused predominantly on Africa. Through QuesS Capital’s social impact fund, QSi, Mpule will launch the IncludeHER Innovation Center.

Women and business in Rwanda

Mpule was inspired to open the center after experiencing Rwanda’s favorable environment for women in politics, business, and education.

“I fell in love with Rwanda, and I knew I wanted to work here. Rwanda is leading the way in terms of women’s empowerment on the continent. At the same time, there is still a lot of work to be done before women have equal access in business and society,” she says.

Mpule and her team are starting IncludeHER to address that gap and to spark large women-driven companies that can be engines of growth.

“To begin with, we are targeting established and rather successful female business owners who can use this center to grow even further. Although they are successful, they still face specific obstacles as women in business, and we want to give them resources and room to innovate and grow their businesses so they can create even more employment and positive change in their communities,” she explains.

The economic empowerment of women positively impacts everyone, Mpule underscores.

“We’re not trying to promote girls over boys, or saying they are more important. We are trying to level the existing gap — to secure gender equity,” she says.

“Promoting women is not just the morally and humanly best thing to do — it’s also good economics. The African economies are missing out on so much growth by not utilizing women. Women reinvest in their families, in their communities and can be engines of massive economic growth. That’s what we want to support.”

Breaking through

As a successful businesswoman and philanthropist who has traveled the world for two decades, Mpule still faces obstacles as a woman in the investment world.

“It still takes a lot of strength and courage to walk into an investment meeting full of men and convince them — and yourself — that you belong just as much as they do. It takes a strong support system around you, telling you that you can do this.

Mpule gets that support system from her husband and business partner.

“To be a successful businesswoman, entrepreneur, and mother, you need to be very intentional about the partner you choose. You need a partner who believes in you and encourages you. Right now, my husband is staying home with our children when I need to travel for work. It means everything. It means I can keep pushing for women’s empowerment across the world while also caring for my family.”